A recent study showed Palm's webOS was just barely ahead of RIM's Blackberry OS in terms of customer satisfaction, but lagged behind Google's Android and Apple's iOS considerably. The same study showed that likely future smartphone buyers weren't even considering a webOS device. Seriously, it had zero percent of the votes.

Will a sleeker form factor and higher resolution screen be enough to save the beleaguered mobile unit? Hardly. But we have yet to see what else Palm might include in the Mansion. A codename like that suggests a powerful, high-quality device. It's entirely possible that a well-priced, top-tier mobile device running an updated version of webOS could carve out a niche in the smartphone marketplace. But Palm is fighting an uphill battle with this one, and with every new Android phone to hit the market, and the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 blitz around the corner, that hill becomes steeper and steeper.